Angry Jose Mourinho has been forced into a furious damage limitation exercise after being caught on camera dismissing the quality of his strikers.

The Chelsea manager ’s remarks about Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba were captured by French TV company Canal+ during a sponsorship launch with watch manufacturers Hublot last week.

Mourinho believed he was chatting privately to senior representatives of the Swiss company as he discussed his team’s options up front. But to his horror, they emerged yesterday.

“I have a team but no striker,” Mourinho said. “It is not possible for us to win the Premier League.

“We have Samuel Eto’o. Yes, Eto’o. but he is 32, maybe even 35, I don’t know.”

Mourinho did speak directly to Canal+, when he dismissed the idea of a potential swap deal involving Eden Hazard and Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani and suggested a move for Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic was “mission impossible”.

He then admitted he was approached by the Paris club to takeover after Real Madrid.

“I did not say yes or no - I did not receive a direct offer,” he continued. “We have a relationship. But I don’t want to feed false questions - I want to stay. I have four years left on my contract and then we will see.”

(Image: Action Images)

A swap deal between Cavani and Eden Hazard has been floated in the French press but Mourinho responded: “No, Eden is our boy.

“He is the boy we want to have for ten years and build the team around him. What if PSG offer 100 million? Only if Financial Fair Play does not exist, and if Financial Fair Play does not exist, we have the money to say no.”

But Chelsea sources insisted another quote, in which Mourinho suggested Colombian striker Radamel Falcao needed to leave Monaco, was also a light-hearted, jocular and off-the-record remark, rather than for public consumption.

Mourinho added: “I don’t have Falcao but Falcao doesn’t have a club. Who wants to play in front of 3,000 supporters?

“If I was one day to go to Monaco it would be at the end of my career.”

(Image: Michael Regan)

But the broadcasting of the comments caused acute embarrassment to Mourinho, understood to have been incandescent when told his words had been publicised.

The Portuguese has made no secret of his frustrations that he lacks a top-class line-leader, with the trio of Eto’o, Torres and Ba having scored just 11 Premier League goals between them, insisting that this summer’s transfer dealings would justify Chelsea’s reticence to make a January acquisition.

The Portuguese could have done without the forced internal fire-fighting as he attempted to concentrate on the run-in to the end of the season, with Chelsea a point clear of Arsenal at the top of the table.

Mourinho has injury concerns for the Galatasaray tie with the Brazilian trio of Ramires (knee), David Luiz (groin) and Oscar (leg muscle) all doubts despite being cleared to travel.

The three South Americans will be assessed by club medics today and Chelsea are hopeful they will all be cleared to play, especially as January recruits Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah are both cup-tied.